A Memory Long Lost
by Sage of Seals
Summary: Konoha is in ruins and now Sasuke and Naruto fight Madara Uchiha. The Juubi, though incomplete, warps the time and space around the combatants, sending them back to the time of those who did and will carry the Will of Fire.  Adopted by Echo Uchiha.
1. Prologue: Final Battle

Prologue

Smoke rose from an otherwise empty plain. The sunlight shone down harshly, filtered by a fine layer of dust and debris kicked up by the fight down below. North of the smoldering ruins of what had once been a prosperous village, Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, laid the formerly great Valley of the End where the powerful Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had fought decades ago. Now, there, the fight was repeating as it had before, with one key difference.

The representative of the Senju was not alone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Uzumaki Naruto glanced around him as smoke of his last attack cleared. His gut tightened when he saw his friend Sasuke standing a distance away from him. Both of them were focused on a position in front of them that was enshrouded in a cloud of haze: the current position of Uchiha Madara, the now insane jinchuuriki of the Juubi.

Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage and one of two last survivors of the destruction of Konoha, stood resolutely, eyes flashing red as he stared down the position of the man who had made his life hell for the past four years. He glanced toward Sasuke and inwardly smiled, even as he winced at the wound on his arm. Sasuke had finally returned three years ago, after losing an epic battle with Naruto, his former best friend.

Sasuke had been adamant about returning to the village even after his defection from Madara, so Naruto had had to return to the only method of making his friend listen that he knew: beating the crap out of him until he got some sense knocked into him. Even immediately after the fight, when both combatants were close to unconsciousness and the land lay desolate for kilometers around, Sasuke had refused to see from Naruto's point of view. It had taken months to coax him out of his self-made shell of loneliness and hatred; months that were otherwise spent fighting the largest conflict in ninja history: the Fourth Great Shinobi War.

Even then, after Sasuke had returned, nothing was ever the same. Naruto had finally taken the office of Rokudaime Hokage, a position that had been temporarily held by his sensei Kakashi for almost a year as Naruto had continued on his seemingly futile quest to bring Sasuke back. Finally, Naruto thought that the village had really acknowledged him, and he believed that he had what it took to protect his precious people. But wartime was never so benevolent to the wishes of the blond Hokage.

  Team 8 had been the first to completely die; a routine mission to Kumogakure to obtain information on troop movements had been failed and Hinata and Kiba had been killed in the ambush waiting for them, Shino having been killed by Kabuto on a mission to the remains of Oto six months earlier.

Neji had died alone on a kamikaze attack on Kumo one week later.

As the years passed, friends had died left and right on missions and invasions, the constant turmoil making it even more difficult to identify friend and foe in the chaos of war. The experience of it had almost torn Naruto apart, if not for help of from surprising source.

If Naruto had heard of Lee's death in a raid on Suna, of Ino's death defending the village against Iwa, or of Chouji's death on the betrayed invasion of Kiri, he simply put his head in his hands and sobbed for hours, all the while Sasuke standing by his side, expressionless eyes staring forward with his hand on a kunai ready to defend his friend. After Sakura's death, the first casualty of the war for the Rookie Nine, both Uchiha and Uzumaki had cried for hours, unable to comprehend the horrors of war as Kakashi stood by, remembering the loss of another friend in another war, his mind far away in a distant time.

With every report, hey had tried to harden their hearts and move on, but they had all known that the village of Konoha had been torn apart forever.

The war had begun as a result of political maneuverings and old suspicions in the Five Great Countries.

The Tsuchikage had died in the first invasion of his village by Kumo, and was replaced by a bloodthirsty and ambitious jounin of Iwa's ANBU.

The Raikage had been killed when the Hachibi had gone out of control and had destroyed the entire village of Kumogakure. The Bijuu had been captured shortly after.

The Mizukage had been taken out and replaced by Uchiha Madara himself, having resumed his old position as the former leader of the village. He had used up most of the village's strength in attacks on Konoha until he had destroyed the village itself as a measurement of his own strength.

Kakashi had taken the position of Acting Hokage after Danzo's death from Sasuke at the Kage Summit, but refused to accept the position officially, waiting for Naruto to finish his search for his friend.

Gaara had been killed almost immediately on his way home from the Summit along with his siblings by a group of overambitious traitors. The group had sent the entirety of the Village Hidden in the Sand into a bloody and tumultuous civil war.

After the death of the last other member of Akatsuki, Madara had slowly gone insane, sometimes disappearing and then reappearing, leaving entirely destroyed villages in his wake. The reason for his strength and madness? Uchiha Madara had become the jinchuuriki of the Juubi no Tsukurizokonau, the incomplete ten-tailed beast. As his effects to capture the Kyuubi from Naruto and Konoha had continuously failed, the legendary Uchiha had become desperate. His efforts had finally culminated in the faulty creation of the ten-tails, which had been sealed inside Madara, giving him tremendous power at the price of great insanity.

Over the years, Naruto and Sasuke had grown more powerful as Madara had sunk deeper into the darkness of madness. Naruto had gained the title of "The Sealing Sage of Konoha" after his suddenly discovered talent at fuuinjutsu and his own sage techniques, and Sasuke had a flee-on-sight order issued by all other villages. The two had been the last survivors of the complete and utter destruction of Konoha and were no fighting against the one man who had been responsible for all this of destruction at a place where the last two holders of the Will of Fire had themselves fought, eight years ago.

The Valley of The End was now a canyon extending for miles in all directions.

Naruto started, snapping out of his thoughts as the haze cleared and a maniacal Madara had been revealed, his skin surrounded by a black aura and his prized Sharingan eyes turned into pitch black holes of utter blackness. He cackled maniacally as Naruto glared in pure hatred. He had finally understood one part of Sasuke's need for vengeance. There stood the one man who could never be redeemed in any way. Naruto pitied the wretched monster.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto say Sasuke leaping up for another Katon technique and so he himself ran toward Madara, unwrapping a scroll before drawing a quick seal in blood.

"Sutorappu no Fuuin: Oni!"(1)

Chains of characters flew off of the scroll, which quickly disappeared in a poof of smoke. The writing seemed to form into the mouth of a monster, which opened and tried to swallow Madara. The Uchiha stood calmly as a sudden blast of dark energy took the seal out within a fraction of a second. Naruto winced. He'd have to up the ante a little, it seemed.

The Uzumaki looked over at his friend and nodded; they had been fighting together for so long that it seemed that they could sometimes know what the other was thinking. His hands blurred into sage katas as Sasuke formed the familiar seals of a Katon jutsu. With a poof of smoke a large toad suddenly appeared in front of Naruto. The toad began to gather nature energy and transferring it to Naruto through a specialized seal. As Naruto's eyes molded into the familiar gold-slit red-outlined shape, he brought his hand up to perform his signature technique as Sasuke began to breath air to release his own jutsu.

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"(2)

"Katon: Karyu Endan!"(3)

As Naruto's Rasenshuriken sprang into existence in his palm, it was splattered with toad oil, which was quickly absorbed into the spinning vortex. Naruto threw the huge matrix of chakra towards Madara, where it fused with Sasuke's Fire Release to create their special combination move: Hikigaeru no Shippuu no Bakuhatsu. (4)

The flaming highly-concentrated ball of chakra flew towards Madara until it vanished- and re-appeared about a kilometer to the northwest.

"BOOM!" The entire area around the spot where the attack had re-materialized had been torn to pieces in a blazing inferno of a hurricane. Naruto mentally palmed his forehead; he'd forgotten about the Juubi's space-altering effects. He realized that the only way to end this would be through close combat: and to do that he would have to find a way to seal his fellow jinchuuriki's reality-bending abilities. He nodded to Sasuke as cogs in his head started to turn. He would have to come up with a new seal; he hadn't expected to have to do something like this. But, after fighting for hours on this destroyed battlefield, her realized that it would be the only way. The blond ninja bit his lip; if he messed up even a _little_ bit on a new seal, then-

Well. He'd just have to not screw up then.

Summoning a lengthy scroll from a tattoo on his wrist, Naruto bit his thumb and began drawing lightning-fast kanji on the paper. As he dashed toward Madara, he noticed Sasuke running up next to him. The raven-haired shinobi's Sharingan eyes had transformed into their noticeable Mangekyo shape. As the two friends ran towards the crazed Uchiha, the madman's face contorted as his body was suddenly racked by pieces of flesh tearing themselves off, leaking the chakra of the formerly dead demon out into the shape of a ball of compressed dark youki. (5)

Sasuke's left eye began to bleed as he shouted "Amaterasu!" (6) A huge firestorm of black flames appeared, heading towards Madara.

Naruto completed his writing and pressed his palm to the ground to activate his new technique. "Oni Shiiringu Kusari!" A chain wreathed out the scroll and shot towards Madara, blazing with gold brighter than the Sun.

The crazed Uchiha stood wordlessly as the ball of youki shot forward, aiming at the other two attacks.

The three techniques collided- and the shinobi world would never be the same.

Naruto convulsed in agony as his mind and body were ripped apart in an explosion of pure light and darkness. He raised his voice to scream, but no sound came out. Only the tortured screeches of the air around him were hearable, he could almost _feel them_ as if they were tangible and he saw Sasuke writhing away from him and ohgodohgod make it stop-

An explosion of blinding light rocked the valley and when the smoke cleared, the canyon was empty.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Binding Seal: Demon. Summons a stream of blood-red characters in the guise of the Nine-Tailed Fox in order to swallow up and bind the opponent into submission. Obviously the collaboration of one blond Konoha shinobi and his furry friend. My personal creation.

Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. If you don't know what this is by now, you really shouldn't even bother reading past this point.

Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile. Used by Sarutobi in his battle against Orochimaru. It releases a stream of white-hot flame unsurpassed in temperature from the user's mouth.

Toad Gale Explosion. My own invention. I gotta say, it _would_ be the ideal team move for Sasuke and Naruto…

Demonic Chakra. Basically, the stuff that forms the Fox Cloak whenever Naruto's pissed.

Once again, if you don't already know what this is…

Demonic Sealing Ring: Chain of Darkness. One final new jutsu; this is Naruto's spur-of-the-moment seal that he creates to try to deal with the Juubi's freaky space-time powers. Needless to say, it doesn't exactly go well…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Welcome one, welcome all to the Sage of Seals' first ever fanfiction! I'd like to ask nicely that you all play nice in reviews (because everyone knows that they're the best way to get updates fast). So honestly, tell me what you think and where you think the story will go. Note: This IS a Time Travel fic, so if that isn't exactly your metaphorical cup of tea, then feel free to check out some other authors. I'd just like to apologize to anyone who may have seen this when I first posted it: I was just testing out the site's system and thus the entire prologue was not up. However, as you can see, it's all-better now! ;-) Finally, if anyone has an issue with my extremely disgusting Japanese or my original techniques, then please, _please_, tell me! It's always good to know when I have to correct something.

As for just to _where_ and _when_ Naruto and Sasuke are going…

Well, we'll just leave that for next week, shall we?

(Yes I know I'm sadistic)

Au Revoir!


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

Note: If you've only read the rough draft of the prologue, I recommend going back and re-reading it; I've added on to it since.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Chapter 1

Sunlight shone down on the grass as the shadows of the trees played across the ground. All was peaceful until-

"BRRIIIINNNGGG!!!"

"YATTA!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, who is that?"

"I dunno. He's just lying there."

"Let's wake him up!"

"No, Chou, wait-!"

Naruto groaned. "Nnnggggg, Sasuke-teme, don't-" He opened his eyes and blinked. Surrounding his vision where a group of young boys, clustering around the blond shinobi. Starting in shock, Naruto jumped up, looking around in surprise- until he saw the shinobi academy.

It was there. Right in front of him. But how could-

Memory flooded back into. Konoha: destroyed. His friends: killed. And Madara: he had to be stopped. He had to be destroyed before- was that _Shikamaru_ over there?! "Sh-shika", the blond gasped out. The pineapple-haired boy in front of him frowned, staring down at Naruto.

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you, though?" The boy in front of him looked puzzled. Naruto observed the kid in front of him as a stunning realization hit him: it wasn't Shikamaru. It couldn't be. He had been among the last to die, true, but he was still gone-

Naruto blinked again, gathering information on his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that the children around him were of a height with himself. The second thing was that the boy in front of him looked similar to Shikamaru, but wasn't the same person. In fact he looked almost more like- Nara Shikaku, Shikamaru's lazy father. Finally he saw the Hokage's Tower, looming above the village with a deadly grace of-

Wait, the _village_?

Still feeling very confused, Naruto turned around to the children behind him, and suddenly noticed his own minute stature. He yelled, and ran to a pond ten feet away, submerging his head in the water before looking up and seeing- himself. But not Namikaze Naruto, Sealing Sage and Hokage of Konoha and one of the most feared shinobi of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Instead, he was gazing at the visage of a small and confused boy about six years old. Before even thinking, Naruto's fingers blurred into the Ram kata as he realized a surge of chakra that should disrupt any Genjutsu placed over him. He should have known to watch out for the former Uchiha's illusionary techniques. "Kai!" He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the peaceful vision of the Academy schoolyard to be disrupted and replaced with the destroyed battlefield- and then opened his eyes. He looked around wildly. He was in the exact same place: the middle of a seemingly peaceful Konoha. He froze in shock before getting tackled by a swift blur of yellow hair and landed in the pond.

Naruto spit the water out of his mouth and looked up to fight off his attacker, only to have his mouth drop to the floor as he stared at the child in front of him. The kid grinned happily as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Hey, do you wanna play with us?"

Naruto looked up into the face above him: a near-mirror image of his own, albeit without the whisker marks. _I-It couldn't be!_ But there was no mistaking it, though he looked upon the visage of a carefree yellow-haired child, he saw something else. A man who had been feared and loved by the entirety of the Shinobi World. A man who had been known far and wide as the "Yellow Flash of Konoha". A man who had been known as the Yondaime Hokage.

Namikaze Minato. Sealer of the Kyuubi Bijuu.

Father of Uzumaki Naruto.

As his mind overloaded with thoughts, Naruto did the only thing left that seemed sane: he passed out.

"Saito-sensei! Saito-sensei!"

The world went dark.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke stirred in his sleep. He groaned as a seemingly-familiar voice prodded him as yelled until he opened has eyes and saw a rambunctious yellow-haired child in front of him. The Uchiha stared- it was Naruto. He let out a small "oof" as he was puched in the gut and doubled over in the bed he was laying in- wait, a _bed_? He must have gone crazy. The yelling ceased and he rolled over, wishing for the madness to go away.

The blond resumed his extremely loud vocalization.

"Sasuke! SASUKE! WAKE UP!"

Sasuke opened his eyes and reached for a kunai to fling at the crazed person in front of him, and stopped suddenly when he realized there was no weapons pouch on his hip. He stared at the child that seemed to be Naruto and got up and jumped at the boy, pinning him to the wall. As he landed against a mirror, Sasuke stared at the reflective surface and saw his reflection-

He looked at the image of the young, dark haired boy in front of him. He reflexively brought his hands together to form the Ram kata and-

"Don't bother, I already tried that. It doesn't work."

The raven-haired Uchiha started in shock as he noticed the childlike Naruto slumped in front of him. "What do you mean it doesn't work? This must be some kind of illusion, some kind of Genjutsu, some kind of-" Sasuke was cut off in the middle of his rambling as Naruto grabbed his arm and brought him to his feet. He brought a hand to his youthful face and-

Oh, _God_. He'd just used the word 'youthful.'

Sasuke glanced rapidly around the room as Naruto put his hands behind his head and waited for the inevitable. "Where are we? How did we get here? What-" Sasuke was cut off as Naruto suddenly interrupted him.

"Sasuke, something's up. I woke up in the middle of a field. The Konoha Academy field."

"What did you just say?" Sasuke growled. "Konoha was destroyed a year ago! There's no way that it could have survived!"

"Don't bother- everything else going on is impossible anyway." Naruto chuckled dryly as his friend stared him down. "First, I saw some kid who looked like Shikamaru, but seemed more similar to his dad. Then, I-I-" Naruto's voice stumbled, but returned with a steadfast yet shaky vigor.

"I met the Fourth."

Sasuke's eyes shot open wide. He had found out about Naruto's heritage upon his return to Konoha, as well as about Naruto's meeting with his father in his own mind as the Kyuubi threatened to break free in Pein's invasion. And, to have such a figure _here_, _now_, was just seemingly impossible, His mind spun as he sought to find a possible answer to their predicament, at least until Naruto opened his mouth and said the words that would forever change the way the two friends saw the world around them.

"Sasuke-"

"I think we're in the past."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke had kept quiet for the rest of the afternoon, keeping to himself as the implications of what Naruto had said sunk in. If the blond spoke truly, then the possibilities were endless. He could stop his brother, prevent the coup, help his clan-

No, wait. Who was he kidding? He was just some six year old kid now.

After Naruto had broken the news of meeting with the child who had looked so similar to the Yondaime, Sasuke had realized that, for better or for worse, they were stuck here now. Involuntarily, his thoughts turned towards escape; towards a way to get back to their own time- but then stopped. The raven-haired ninja scowled. _Why would we even want to go back? It's not like there's anything to go back to!_ Sasuke put his elbows in his lap and stood his chin in his hands as he looked toward the window of the two's shared hospital room. His brow furrowed as he glanced furtively toward the door that must have led to one of the many hallways of the Konoha Hospital. It was odd: surely some nurse or someone must have been ordered to check up on them by now. Even as the thought entered his mind, the door opened and through the doorway entered a ninja who he guessed was a nurse- he noticed Naruto's sharp intake of breath beside him- and behind her, Sarutobi Hiruzen

Sasuke almost gaped at the man in the doorway before catching himself and retreating to the mental confines of his mind. He had been steeling himself for this all day, but he had barely thought that he would be prepared for this. The Sandaime Hokage stood tall and proud, unblemished by the conflicts of the years to come. His former- or was it future?- grey goatee was now a deep brown streaked with black, and he carried himself with the air of a powerful and feared ninja, though still projecting the image of a kindly, though not yet old, man. Sasuke's eyes flickered over to Naruto beside him and noticed that the blond was staring not only at the Third, but at the woman beside him as well. The Uchiha started as he realized who it was.

Tsunade, the member of the Legendary Sannin, stood menacingly at the blond in the bed next to Sasuke who had just shot up, gasping for air, looking around frantically as he looked for a place to escape to. The medic-nin's lip curled as she stomped over to the boy and proceeded to shout at him.

"What are you doing, you idiot child? You're found half-dead at the Academy, surrounded by a bunch of idiot kids who are too young to know anything, and the first thing you do when you wake up is to try to run? You no-good little-"

Sarutobi stepped gently up to his student and tapped her on the arm, abating her rage for the moment. She stepped back, almost looking mortified. Sasuke chuckled inwardly: the Tsunade he'd known would have never backed down so easily. He glanced over at Naruto for a split second- _Don't tell them who we are, dobe_- and quickly returned his attention to the two ninja standing in front of him.

"Well my young friends, it seems that we have gotten off to a rough start." The Hokage chuckled, a rich and deep sound that almost uplifted Sasuke's spirits. "I must apologize for my pupil's lack of discretion. She is a medical ninja, and as we all know, they are very protective of their charges. However, she should not have snapped at you that way" After a quiet murmured "Yes, sensei," from Tsunade and a guilty nod from Naruto, the Sandaime continued as if nothing had happened. "I would ask you how you are feeling, both of you, but due to the obvious amount of energy coming off you two, I must instead ask you this: Who are you two and how did you come to the humble village of Konohagakure?" The man's voice said this softly and kindly, yet his eyes tightened and narrowed as he was not immediately answered.

"I-we-" Naruto began, but he was quickly cut off by Sasuke.

"We both lost our parents in the war," Sasuke began as he started a story of their supposed pasts. He saw Sarutobi's face tighten as he spoke of the death of their families in the aftermath of the Second Great Shinobi World War. As he continued, speaking of how they had come to the village of Konoha, talking of the peace that they had heard existed here, Tsunade's lip curled. The Uchiha soon realized why- it was still a time fresh after the death of her brother and lover- Naruto had told him about them- and she was disgusted, not with him, but with the monsters who had left these two children in front of her alone and helpless. As his story wound up to a close in their appearance in the Academy grounds- they had fallen from a tree, not mysteriously appeared or anything of course, he saw Naruto's small fists tighten on the sheet covers until they were trembling. Sasuke then calmly turned to the Hokage in front of him as he asked for one final thing. "Please, sir, could we stay here in Konoha? Our parents are gone, and now- and now-" Sasuke let his voice tremble a little- he did have to play the part of the frightened orphan after all- and silently let out a sigh of a relief as the shinobi before him smiled, closing his eyes before opening them and gazing upon the two orphan boys.

"Of course you can stay, dear boy," the Sandaime said quietly. "But first, what are your names?" Sasuke's eyes widened- he hadn't planned for this!- but quickly decided on going with the truth, or at least something like it.

"My friend's name is Uzumaki Naruto and my name is Uchiha Sasuke." He stopped as the Third's eyes widened at the second name and Tsunade looked up and stopped her dark muttering. "My momma said that we had family here and I-I want to see them. Can I, please, sir?" Sasuke relaxed invisibly again, the frightened-and-lonely child act had again gone over better than he had expected. Sasuke allowed himself to sigh noticeably as Sarutobi's mouth curled into a kindly smile and then silently nodded toward Tsunade, prompting the blond woman to leave the room.

"Don't worry, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun," said the Third. "I'll make sure that both of you are safe and happy in this village. If you need anything, just ask for me, and I shall do my utmost to aid you both."

With a final nod and smile, Sarutobi Hiruzen was gone from the room, leaving the two tenants alone again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As the moon rose over a quiet Konoha, two figures stood on a rooftop overlooking Konoha Hospital. The pair was silent for a moment until a third person arrived. The first spoke.

"My Lord Hokage, what are we to do with these boys?" the man said, bowing.

"Nothing," said the taller man, looking out over the village. They are just war-torn orphans, and so we must do all we can to help them."

"But, Hokage-sama!" the third exclaimed. "We know nothing of them! They could be spies for all we know! Kumo-"

"Enough," the second man said. "They are children and so will be treated as such. Tsunade has informed me that they are recovering rapidly, and so will be able to leave the hospital early tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, I will bring them to the orphanage so that they may be taken care of and, in due time, we will find a suitable family to adopt them. But until then, you will do nothing- and I mean _nothing_- to make life difficult for these children! Am I understood?" the Hokage asked, eyes flashing in the pale moonlight.

"Yes Hokage-sama," the two others said in unison and, in an instant, the rooftop was empty.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next morning, Naruto and Sasuke walked out of the hospital, annoyed at being cooped up in the room for the night. After years of being at war, the two had grown used to the need to be able to move around quickly and silently, and the bustle of the building had cut down on their opportunities hugely. The first thing to come to their minds, of course, was to wonder about their power: even if they were physically six years old, shouldn't they be able to access the power of their future selves anyway? To answer the question, the pair headed over to Training Ground 16 to test themselves. Luckily, the area was toward the outskirts of Konoha and so they were able to get away from the Chuunin trailing them rather easily. Arriving at the clearing, the boys shared some nostalgia for the place where they had become genin. Naruto smiled to himself and Sasuke looked up at the sky, thinking to himself.

Naruto was the first to test himself. He launched himself up in the air and threw some shuriken that he had stolen along the way from the hospital. Only one hit its mark; the other embedded two inches away and the third missed entirely. Naruto frowned; it appeared that he would have to practice more in this body to get back the muscle memory that he used to have. He considered himself lucky that his technique, at least, was mostly correct. Running up to a tree, he attempted to form a Rasengan in his palm- and failed. Several streaks of chakra flickered in his cupped hand and began to swirl before dispersing and blowing Naruto back a few feet.

Sasuke grimaced: it appeared that they wouldn't be able to use all of their former strength. He thought about it for a minute before coming to a simple conclusion: these bodies were simply not able to be vessels for the amount of power that their minds could provide. It was most likely due to the fact that their bodies were physically very young: with a younger body, their chakra coils were most likely massively underdeveloped compared to what they had before and so they could probably only access a tiny fraction of their former reserves. The same probably went for taijutsu: they would have to condition themselves in order to regain their physical strength. The Uchiha smiled. Even though they didn't have access to their previously formidable strength, they could still most likely use their personal fighting styles, at least once they re-conditioned their bodies to that as well. Suddenly, a thought struck. He _was_ an Uchiha, and so should be able to activate his Sharingan. So, could his Mangekyou have possibly carried over…?

The raven-haired boy crouched into fighting position suddenly, forming the Tiger seal in deep concentration. Launching himself at a log, something red flashed across his vision and he found himself ready to laugh- _I must have _some_ portion of my doujutsu!_- and quickly jumped out of the way of the log only to land not-so-gracefully on his feet. Sasuke winced- he'd have to start getting used to the limits, both of size and power, of this younger body.

Glancing over at the other boy a few yards away, Sasuke asked, "Hey, Naruto. Can you see my Sharingan at all?"

The aforementioned blond looked up and squinted, as if trying to see something difficult to observe. His eyes widened suddenly and he spoke up with a grin on his face. "You do have your Sharingan, Sasuke"- _Yes_! Sasuke mentally cheered- "but there's only one tome in it." Sasuke frowned. It appeared that he would have to upgrade his eyes over time. Naruto, too, would have to work harder: as the host of the Kyuubi, his chakra coils had been strengthened greatly, giving him immense reserves to draw on. Though he most likely still contained the bijuu, without that huge amount of his own energy to use, the blond would either have to get used to using small amounts of chakra for techniques or else practice harder to increase his reserves. Of course, with the aid of the Kyuubi's own chakra, it might be possible to-

"Ah, Naruto, Sasuke! I thought I'd find you here!"

The blond started staring at the several figures walking toward them. One, he realized guiltily, was Sarutobi. Naruto glanced at his feet, suddenly remembering that the man had been supposed to take them to the orphanage today. Then he looked up and recognized the children standing around the Hokage: Akimichi Chouza, Yamanka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Inuzuka Tsume, Uchiha Fugaku, and Namikaze Minato were all jogging toward them with smiles on their faces.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced around nervously as they recognized their respective fathers running toward them, but then relaxed and resigned themselves to the barrage of questions that attacked them.

"Hey, who are you?"

"Do you wanna play?"

"What's your names?"

"Did you come from far away?"

"Where're your parents?"

"How-?"

"Enough children," the Third said, chuckling. I think that we should give our friends a moment of rest. After all, they _did_ just get here from outside Konoha yesterday," he said, his eyes twinkling.

"Really?"

"Wow! So cool!"

The Hokage came over to Naruto and Sasuke, still laughing quietly. "I assumed that you would stay in the hospital until I came for you, so imagine my surprise when I heard you had come rushing here!" Sarutobi watched the other children intently, mirth dancing in his eyes. "When these other children heard where you were, they decided to come meet you and see if you wanted to play with them. After all, it's not every day that two strange boys show up in your tree." The Sandaime walked up to the two boys and put his arms around them. Sasuke winced internally, half-expecting for him to fling the older man-s arm off of his, but stopped when he remembered that this body didn't have the same reflexes he used to have. He looked up into the Third's eyes wondered what he was thinking. Pity for the poor, orphaned child, no doubt. Before he had time to think further, the Hokage interrupted his thought process.

"Well, children, now that we've found Naruto and Sasuke, what do you think we should do with them? They did run away from the hospital after all," he said, smiling softly.

"Punish them!"

"Make them eat Daddy's cooking!"

"Play a game!"

The speaker of the last exclamation was, surprisingly enough, Minato. The yellow-haired boy was grinning ear-to-ear at the though of having new playmates to have fun with. The Hokage continued.

"Anyway, it's too early to do anything else, so who would like to take Naruto and Sasuke home for some breakfast?" Five hands immediately went up, followed by a grudging Fugaku who had only done it after being glared at by Minato. "Very well, children. Naruto, you can go home with Minato, and Sasuke can eat with Fugaku." The man pointed towards their respective hosts and leaned down to Sasuke. "You may not know it, but he's an Uchiha too." Sasuke's eyes widened involuntarily; he hadn't much thought about it, but being back in Konoha before the Uchiha Massacre opened up pathways, roads to family that he had long considered closed. Seeing the boy's apparent shock, the Hokage ruffled Sasuke's hair and chuckled before turning and walking away.

"Naruto, Sasuke: I'll meet you to bring you to the orphanage around noon. In them meantime, enjoy the company of your new friends." Nodding their heads dumbly as the omnipresent babble emanated from the surrounding children, Naruto and Sasuke could only watch the Third walk away as they themselves were dragged- somewhat literally- toward the homes of their parents.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Well, no yucky Japanese techniques to translate in this chapter, so I guess we all got lucky. Before anyone asks, yes, both Naruto and Sasuke will have to learn to adapt their smaller bodies and strength. I won't be having too much fun with their clumsiness like some other authors, but rest assured that there will be no Super!OverPowered!Naruto! in this story.

(Honestly- it's just too much like a Canon Sue for my tastes.)

In the meantime, both will obviously put a _lot_ more effort into their earlier training in order to gain back some of what they've lost. At the same time, they'll encounter some familiar things in the village as well as some things that they may have never have known, whether about themselves or about their families. The biggest question is: how will the pair react to this new life? Will they try to keep their memories and pain from their past lives, or will they try to forge a new path, letting go of their former lives? Tell me what you think; though it won't change what I'm going to write, I am interested in what people think.

Next, just remember that this is not like other time-travel stories; because they have gone back so far, there is no real "advantage" that comes with being able to know when Zabuza shows up, the results of the Chuunin Exams, etc., etc. (Though the Chuunin Exams _will_ come up later).

Finally, for all of you who read my prologue originally, please take a moment to make sure that you're up to date, as I had only uploaded a much shorter draft originally. And _yes_, the title and description are changed- I decided that these would work _much_ better for what I have planned.

Quick Note: Unless something big comes up, I'll most likely update once or twice a week: always on a Friday and on Tuesday as well if I have some extra time on my hands.

R&R please! I need the feedback, positive or negative!

Sage of Seals, out!


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